The Greatest Curse

Ghost Hunt

As the school bell rings, Yuta and Rika exit the school hand in hand and start their walk home. Yuta smiles timidly, with Rika leading him, as always. Rika catches him smiling at her, returning it with a smile of her own at him as the sunlight touches her face.

"Yuta!" She tugs gently, pulling him along. "Did you want to stop to get something to eat??? I remembered to bring some of my allowance"

'Allowance is being generous. It's just what I managed to find while doing my chores at that bat's house,' She thinks, not showing her bitterness at the thought in front of Yuta.

Yuta stops walking and starts rummaging through his pockets. "Yeah! Me too! I couldn't remember if I had any."  He laughs softly and rubs the back of his neck. What should we get?" he asks.

"Good question. Hmmm..." Rika thinks to herself as they continue their walk.  "Oh! How about we go back for those pancakes we saw the other week?" She asks excitedly.

"Yeah,  that sounds good-"

"Heeeey! Yuta! Rikaaa!" A familiar voice calls out to them.

Kiyomi, a classmate of theirs, runs over to them, waving happily the whole time. Rika's demeanor changes completely as the girl gets closer to them.  Her bright smile was now replaced by a scowl with an obvious look of annoyance.  Before Rika can lead Yuta away a few more kids run over. Two brothers Shoji and Kohaku.

"Hey, you guys. We're planning on going to the abandoned middle school wanna come?" Shoji asks as his younger brother nods wordlessly in greeting.

"Why would we want to do that?" Rika answers, her voice monotone and without emotion.

"W-well.." Yuta looks back and forth between Rika and the others.

"We wanna see if it's really haunted! Come on, It'll be fun!" Kiyomi tries to convince them focusing on Yuta.

There's a silence as Yuta and Rika exchange looks. Rika is only really interested if Yuta is.

'She always changes when others are around.' Yuta thinks. 'Maybe we should. She can't only ever be with just me and my sister..' He shifts their hands looking at the promise rings they both share.

'They're interrupting my time with Yuta..' Rika was completely uninterested in anything besides Yuta. She looks down, seeing him looking at their rings, smiling, her cheeks flushing.

Yuta returns her smile before looking at the others. "Sure. We'll be there! What time should we get there?"

"After the sun's down," Kohaku answers.

"Duh!" Kiyomi chimes in.

"Yeah, you can't find when the sun's up. Everyone knows that." Shoji says matter of factly.

"R-right!" Yuta laughs sheepishly.

Rika just nods quietly. 'If Yuta wants to go then I'll go. Even if there are others..' The other kids say their goodbyes and run off excited for the night to come. Yuta watches them leave before looking back to Rika noticing her expression.

"Sorry... Did you not want to go?" He asked, his voice filled with unease and guilt.

"Mm.." She murmurs as she shakes her head. "If you want to. That's enough for me." She gives him a reassuring smile.

Yuta relaxes a bit, squeezing her hand as they start walking again. "Do you think we'll actually see a ghost?" He asks, trying to hide his fear at the thought.

Rika laughs, catching on right away. "Well don't worry! I'll protect you if one shows up!" Her happiness is back in full now that it's just them again.